Benefits

General Benefits of MBSR:

Individuals who have completed an 8 week MBSR course report:

  • less stress,
  • increased happiness and
  • more resilience when dealing with the challenges life throws their way.

As we become more engaged in our lives, we begin to realize that there is more “right” with us than “wrong”. This change in perspective allows greater joy for the simple things in life, such as a shared moment with a child/partner or more awareness of the change of seasons as flowers bloom and snow falls.

 

Employee Benefits of MBSR:

Major American companies like Google, Apple, Target, General Mills and Aetna offer mindfulness programs for their employees. 

MBSR workplace programs have shown:

  • 29% increase in productivity, performance, and work quality;
  • 40% more focus;
  • 65% more energy;
  • 89% of employees said they became better listeners;
  • 80% reported a positive change in ability to make better decisions. 
  • reduced days off work due to stress by up to 70% over 3 years.

 MBSR and Chronic Pain:

Research has shown that MBSR can reduce the perception of pain. While chronic pain may not go away, your relationship with pain may shift and change.

Participants report:

  • less limitations due to pain,
  • reduced severity of pain, and
  • more joy in life even in the presence of pain.

 MBSR and Medical Conditions:

MBSR has been scientifically shown to be an effective complement to a wide variety of medical and psychological conditions.

Many of the side effects of mindfulness meditation found in scientific research include decrease in psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression as well as greater stability in physical symptoms such as blood glucose levels and blood pressure.

Below is a partial listing of medical and psychological conditions with citations of some of the benefits of mindfulness practice:

Anxiety (Hoge, Bui, Marques, Metcalf, Morris, Robinaugh, et. al., 2013)

Asthma (Pbert, Madison, Druker, Olendzki, Magner, Reed, et. al., 2012)

Cancer (Carlson, Doll, Stephen, Faris, Tamagawa, Drysdale, & Speca, 2013)

Chronic Pain (Reiner, Tibi, & Lipsitz, 2013)

Diabetes (Hartmann, Kopf, Kircher, Faude-Lang, Djuric, Augstein, et. al., 2012)

Fibromyalgia (Schmidt, Grossman, Schwarzer, Jena, Naumann, & Walach, 2011)

Gastrointestinal Disorders (Zernicke, Campbell, Blustein, Fung, Johnson, Bacon, & Carlson, 2013)

Heart Disease (Sullivan, Wood, Terry, Brantley, Charles, McGee, Johnson, et. al., 2009)

HIV (Duncan, Moskowitz, Neilands, Dilworth, Hecht, & Johnson, 2012)

Hot Flashes (Carmody, Crawford, Salmoirago-Blotcher, Leung, Churchill, & Olendzki, 2011)

Hypertension (Hughes, Fresco, Myerscough, van Dulmen, Carlson, & Josephson, 2013)

Major Depression (Chiesa & Serretti, 2011)

Mood Disorders (Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010)

Sleep Disturbances (Andersen, Wurtzen, Steding-Jessen, Christensen, Andersen, Flyger, et. al., 2013)

Stress Disorders (Kearney, McDermott, Malte, Martinez, & Simpson, 2012)